Arts & Entertainment
 

Babel Fishh pushes definition of hip-hop

by Zach Lee
The Daily Cougar

Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzáles, and Lance Berkman -- they all play in that big grassy area back behind third base. They all leave their own imprint both in the field and at the plate. They all push the game in new directions, but Berkman isn't the only one in Houston making a contribution from out in left field. 

Sure, hip-hop is an entirely different game, but Babel Fishh, a Spring transplant from California, makes a contribution that can only be described as "left-field." 

"Just don't call me weird," he said.

His style is anything but conventional though, and he does most of his off-the-wall work himself. His rhymes are staggered or nonexistent because he "can't write if (he feels he has) to rhyme at the end of lines."

His beats are collages of obscure samples and awkward crashes he credits to his affinity for picking things up and banging them together. Like any left fielder though, he feels more at home on one side of the plate.

"My vocal presence is more my forte," he said, and the wide variety of his influences probably accounts for a style he places on the "outskirts of hip-hop." He isn't quick to bring up backpackers or other underground hip-hop artists. Instead, he fondly recalls several of country's legendary performers along with Jim Croce and the king himself, Elvis. While he says sometimes listening to hip-hop hurts his ability to write it, Babel Fishh doesn't ignore rap, and he cites his friends at freshraps (www.freshraps.cjb.net) as "instant influence." The artists with work available on the Web site all rap in a similar vein with offbeat rhymes and surreal lyrics that border on stream of consciousness poetry.

Babel Fishh fully realizes that his music is on the "outskirts of hip-hop," but he doesn't worry because there are "so many sub genres" in independent music that he finds "a lot of the punk kids can get into (his) stuff." 

His 2003 release Exit Lever spans much of the musical variety he is so conscious of, from the unintelligible sounds that begin "Eleven Twice" before it suddenly and unexpectedly drops to reveal an addictively minimalist beat to the hilarious McGruff sample that repeats "Don't let anybody touch you," as the catchy bassline of "A Fish Named Nameless" comes to an end. "Cafeteria Smile" is another impressive song, and the rest of the CD-R release is full of quick lyrics and slow, dreamy beats. 

Babel Fishh was even more entertaining live. He let his body move in strange ways before he dropped to the ground and spun while effortlessly staying just as close to the beat as he was when he stood. An April Fool's Day show is in the works for Babel Fishh, and fans of left-field hip-hop as well as open-minded fans of music in general should attend. Just don't feel bad if you don't understand what he's saying.

"I write in a unique way," he said. "I'm not trying to relate to some seventh grader. I'm just doing my thing."
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